Aya Al-Rashid
}} '''Aya Al-Rashid' was a recurring character and an antagonist in the third season of . She was an ancient vampire and a former member and de facto leader of the Strix. History At some point in history, Aya was turned by Elijah and was invited to join the Strix. Over the years, the two grew fond of each other and eventually became lovers. However, Mikael along with a small army of his own, descended upon the Strix. They slaughtered many of the Strix and destroyed all of what Elijah built until none remains. By then, Elijah decided to retreat to safety, but Aya was no coward and chose to stay, forcing them both to separate. Aya was eventually found by Tristan, who she started to view as a savior. Together, with Tristan's corrupted guidance, they made the Strix to what they are today. After sometime, she was trained in combat by Mohinder, transforming herself into a fierce combatant. She ultimately became Tristan's second-in-command due to her abilities. Throughout The Originals Series Season Three In I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans, Aya arrived at Marcel's hideout where he and some of his vampires were gathered. She attempted to make a proposal to him, but he ordered his vampires to get her out. Aya beat down the young vampires easily despite their determination to defend themselves. Aya was impressed that Marcel was the last one standing and held his own despite that she was three times his age. She told him that she admired his determination to protect his home and reputation but that they'd speak somewhere more appropriate. She poisoned him with a toxin she'd made herself on a pointed ring, knocking him out. Aya brought Marcel to a large house where she woke him up with water and gave him a blood bag to help him recovery. She told him that there was plenty more where it came from and that her and her friends could help his vampires get daylight rings as well, getting Marcel's attention. She explained that she knew his story and offered to help him turn New Orleans into what it should be, with him as the king. She told him that the group she belonged to was The Strix, an ancient society of vampires. Elijah appeared, revealing that he knew Aya intimately. Wanting to know what she was doing in New Orleans, he attacked her, shoving his hand in her chest before Tristan interrupted the reunion. In A Walk on the Wild Side, As one of the most influential members of The Strix she's at their gala and interacts with Marcel who is a special guest there. She steals his ring and gives to it her mentor. Marcel gains membership into The Strix by passing their hazing test. In Beautiful Mistake, she is sent to take Rebekah Mikaelson down and bring her back to New Orleans. After killing Rebekah in Eva Sinclair´s body, the original vampire woke up in her true body. Aya and many members of the Strix tried to take her down but failed miserably against the most powerful female vampire, although Rebekah was very weakened at this time due to not having blood for months. After killing all the vampires except Aya, more members of the Strix appeared and were defeated by her elder sister Freya. However, an unnamed Moroccan Witch locked Rebekah behind a wall, which gave Aya the chance to neutralize her. Later Rebekah´s body was stolen by vampires of Aurora´s sireline. In The Other Girl in New Orleans, she shows up at Marcel's Loft and accuses him of getting Davina shunned from her coven and her status as Regent revoked, of course, Marcel denies this. She puts his loyalty to the test by requesting his assistance in retrieving Tristan. Marcel makes her aware of how dangerous it would be to go to war with the Mikaelsons but she reminds him that they started the war when they took a fellow brethren. She hands him the Cursed Stake, a weapon powerful enough to subdue an original, she wants him to use it on Elijah. Aya assures him that it will work because she used one much like it on Rebekah. She tells Marcel if he succeeds then he will have proved his loyalty, however, if he fails, she'll kill him. She enters The Abattoir, stabs Freya with a knife and saves Tristan. Back at the loft, Marcel hands her a vile of Klaus' blood, to give to Tristan, they get ready to leave but Marcel confronts them on their loyalty, this almost leads to a confrontation between her and Marcel, but it doesn't come to that and Marcel is allowed to go with them. In A Ghost Along the Mississippi, In Wild at Heart, Aya is seen hosting a dinner with The Strix. In Dead Angels, In Heart Shaped Box, In A Streetcar Named Desire, Aya puts herself in charge of unlinking the sirelines. Aya tries her hardest to unlink herself from Elijah Mikaelson. Aya even leads a group of vampires to stop Rayna Cruz from disrupting the magical event. Aya feels as though she failed despite the successful unlinking of Klaus Mikaelson's sireline. Elijah was still linked to her and Aya felt that death was the only choice for her then. Aya begs Elijah to kill her, but before he could, Hayley stakes her from behind. Personality Aya was a mysterious, yet tough woman. She had a no-nonsense attitude and is loyal to her organization. Aya also displayed a cunning sense of game (reference to stealing Marcel's daylight ring) and as well as displaying physical technique. Aya was ruthless and pragmatic in nature, she also didn't tolerate betrayal, decapitating a Strix member for his disloyalty. Aya was also proven to be resourceful as she has collected and recruited wayward and shunned witches powerful enough to provide her useful visions that may gain her information and advantage against any threats to her organization. This demonstrated her ability to strategize and use multiple tactics rather than just rely on the brute strength of the Strix. Physical Appearance In I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans, Elijah Mikaelson described her as "Five-foot-seven, built like a goddess, vicious as a viper". Aya was a gorgeous African-American young-looking woman in her 20s with natural black short hair, dark brown, wide eyes and full lips. Aya carried herself like royalty, straight posture and usually looks down on everyone with the exception of her fallen leader, Tristan de Martel. Aya spoke with an old English accent akin to that of Eva Sinclair and Rebekah Mikaelson, suggesting she may have lived in English spoken areas in her time as a human or (possibly) even resides in England in her time not working for the means of the Strix. Aya was strong, beautiful, intelligent, brave and ruthlessly loyal to those who did not betray her. Powers and Abilities and lived. As very few vampires have.]] Aya possessed all the standard powers and abilities of an non-original vampire. But being over 900 years of age affords her more power than most vampires making her more powerful than the likes of Sage as far as physical matters go. She is also trained in fighting opponents larger than her. Aya is skilled in battle and poisons being able to use them effectively against her opponents with deadly consequences. She also managed to fight with Rebekah for a while, although, she had other vampires helping her. In terms of fighting technique, Aya is shown to be more skilled than Rebekah. It's possible that If Aya had possessed the same power as an Original Vampire, Aya could have likely defeated her in a one-to-one fight. However, even in Rebekah's weakened state, she (Rebekah) showed greater physical strength as she pulled Aya's hand from her throat, this is due to Rebekah being an Original vampire. In terms of tactics, Aya employs pragmatic methods, especially against foes that have an advantage over her in some way, Rebekah being more powerful and Hayley who can administer werewolf venom. Aya was able to hold her own against Elijah in a duel for leadership of The Strix, while the latter naturally dominated the fight, Aya very briefly managed to get the better of him and pinned him to the cage wall, however, he quickly got out of this and in turn pinned her by the throat. During this fight, Aya once again demonstrated considerable fighting skills, utilizing martial arts. Weaknesses Aya had the typical weaknesses of an non-original vampire. Relationships *Aya and Marcel (Allies/Frenemies) *Rebekah and Aya (Enemies) *Tristan and Aya (Boss/Employee/Allies/Formerly) *Elijah and Aya (Sire/Former Lovers/Enemies) *Aya and Mohinder (Mentor/Student) *Freya and Aya (Enemies) *Aya and Aurora (Allies) Appearances Season 2 *''Ashes to Ashes'' (Deleted scene) Season 3 *''I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans'' *''A Walk on the Wild Side'' *''Beautiful Mistake'' *''The Other Girl in New Orleans'' *''Savior'' (Mentioned) *''A Ghost Along the Mississippi'' *''Wild at Heart'' *''Dead Angels'' *''Heart Shaped Box'' *''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (Death) *''An Old Friend Calls'' (Mentioned) Name Aya is a female name with bases in many languages, in Japanese it means "design", "colorful" or "beautiful", in Arabic it means "miracle", while in Old German it means "sword". Trivia *She was originally supposed to appear in Season 2's episode, Ashes to Ashes, along with a character named Mystery Man, but their scenes were eventually removed from the episode and used for the Comic-Con 2015 trailer. *During a fight with Marcel Gerard, she mentioned that she is three times his age. *She is adept at using poison. *She was able to fight against a newly awakened Rebekah on even terms. **However, it should be noted that Rebekah had not fed in months, and was thus weaker. * Aya is referred as Elijah's little protégé in Beautiful Mistake and Elijah's ex in Savior by Rebekah. *In the producer's preview for The Other Girl in New Orleans, Michael Narducci described Aya as the second-in-command of the Strix. *Aya had fought two Originals in physical combat without the element of surprise and lived. The only other vampires to do this was Marcel, who had fought Klaus and briefly Mikael. Damon has attempted to fight an Original but only with the advantage of surprise when it came to Kol, and unusual circumstances when he fought Alaric. *Tracy, the actress who plays Aya, also appears as a second-in-command in an episode of Hawaii Five-0 to the main recurring villain. She was also the villain's tortue consultant who favoured black clothing. *She knew of Rayna Cruz. **She was marked by her sword. However, she was killed by Hayley Marshall-Kenner before being hunted down. Quotes Gallery Normal TO303 0675Aya.jpg Normal TO303 0683Aya.jpg OG303A 0216b.jpg Normal_TO304_0898AyaMohinder.jpg Normal_TO304_0930MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1096Aya-Marcel.jpg Normal_TO304_1111MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1116MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1260MarcelAya-Mohinder.jpg Normal_TO304_1261Aya-Marcel.jpg Normal_TO304_1280MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1307MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1379MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1707Aya.jpg Normal_TO304_1722MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1732MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1751MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1773MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_1793MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_2266Aya.jpg Normal_TO304_2320TristanAya.jpg Normal_TO304_2372Aya-Mohinder.jpg Normal_TO304_2419TristanAya.jpg Normal_TO304_3026MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO304_3029Aya.jpg Normal_TO304_3041MarcelAya.jpg Normal_TO306_0292Aya.jpg Normal_TO306_1233Aya-Rebekah.jpg Normal_TO306_1678Aya-Rebekah.jpg Normal_TO306_1716Aya-Rebekah.jpg Normal_TO306_1742Aya.jpg Normal_TO306_2933RebekahAyaWitch.jpg Normal_TO306_2976Aya.jpg TO308_0711Aya-Marcel.jpg TO308_0782MarcelAya.jpg TO308_0792Aya-Marcel.jpg TO308_0909Aya.jpg TO308_0952Aya-Marcel.jpg TO308_2225FreyaAya.jpg TO308_2241Aya.jpg TO308_2382Aya-Tristan.jpg TO308_2777Aya-Tristan.jpg TO308_2826TristanAya.jpg References See also Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:The Originals Characters Category:The Originals Season Three Characters Category:Vampires Category:Undead Category:Supernatural Category:Antagonists Category:The Strix Category:New Orleans Residents Category:The Originals Season Two Characters Category:Deceased Category:Major Antagonists